Softball league gets seniors back on the field

SILVER SPRINGS SHORES — John Craig said that playing in the Golden Seniors softball league is like “going to fantasy camp.”

By Andy FillmoreCorrespondent

SILVER SPRINGS SHORES — John Craig said that playing in the Golden Seniors softball league is like “going to fantasy camp.”

Craig, 80, thought his softball playing days ended in 1960, until he joined the Golden Seniors 55-Plus slow pitch league in 1993.

“When I was a draftsman with General Electric at age 27 in Schenectady, N.Y., I played industrial league softball. It's good for your health,” Craig said as he headed onto the baseball diamond for a practice game at Marion County Parks and Recreation's Ralph Russell Memorial Park, the league's home field.

League president Charles O'Neill, 72, said participation had been waning but “seems to be getting better.”

New players are always welcome. Annual dues are $45 per player, which helps offset expenses such as the $500 yearly fee for the park, where the group usually meets from 7:30 a.m. to noon Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The teams are sponsored by local businesses. In summer, teams are blended and mixed because of player absence due to seasonal residency and vacations.

The co-ed league's sole female player, Lois Borie, 71, an operating room nurse, also plays on The Villages' Golden Gals softball team, which is headed for three days of national level play in Cleveland, Ohio, starting Tuesday, July 23.

“I started with the Golden Seniors because of my husband's involvement with the team,” Borie said.

League treasurer Ken Yanish, 72, said the group has about 40 players, which form up to four year-round teams. Yanish, a former New Jersey homicide detective, said the games are “safety oriented.”

We have an extra first base next to the regular position of first base to avoid player contact. We allow players to run past bases and have no sliding, all to avoid contact between players and possible injury, Yanish explained.

Doug Posey, 69, is considered by his fellow players to be one of the faster runners.

“It's something to do and good exercise. It really is a team effort,” said Posey, who has played on the King Security team.

George King, 76, plays pitcher on that team, which is sponsored by his son Gary King.

Catcher and right fielder Gerson Feliciano, 85, said the activity gives him some time out of the house. He has played for the Roberts Funeral Home team.

Jim Hindman, 63, an optician; Joe Mazzola, 69, a retired printer; Joe Baratta, 82, a former Philadelphia police officer and U.S. Marshal in Miami; Ira Goldblatt, 61, a retired chief auditor with the New York Health System; and John Boyers, 68, Vince Megale, 76, Len Knight, 61, and a pitcher new to the game, Jay Kimmel, 71, enjoyed a recent practice game while sharing good natured bantering in the dugouts.

Tom Sheridan, 69, a retired journalist, said he loves playing with the league.

“I live in SummerGlen and I play on the competitive winter league there,” Sheridan said.

Harvey Burns, 72, was playing only his second game since having his “shoulder replaced with a titanium (joint).”

“I'm 100 percent now,” said Burns a retired Marion County School System math instructor who worked at Vanguard high School and now provides private tutoring.

Vietnam War veteran Gary McCarrol, 70, served in the U.S. Marines from 1962 to 1966, including in a Force Recon unit. He rides his BRP Spyder three-wheel motorcycle about 25 miles from Orange Lake to play with the group. He is known as a “heavy hitter” who has knocked the ball into the lighting in the far outfield.

“Once in a while you get lucky,” he said.

The league is a father and son affair for spectator Buck Tyson, 89, and his son, team member John “J.P.” Tyson, 68.

“I like to watch. They make some good hits and some bad ones. It's entertainment,” Buck Tyson said.

John Tyson, a firefighter who served 32 years with Orange County, said he prefers playing softball to other forms of exercise.

“It beats jogging, and it's fun,” he said.

Retired Orlando psychologist George Haralson, 77, has played for the Munroe Regional Medical Center team for the last seven years.

”Playing senior softball can improve your quality of life and get you up and going. There's motivation and physical coordination,” Haralson said. “There's a place for everybody in senior softball.”